Is Reddit a magnet for pedophiles?
A much preferable kind of creep.
So the question I have it this: Does Reddit have some sort of powerful magnetic attraction to the pedophiles and pedophile defenders of the world, or is pedophilia and/or pedophile defense simply endemic amongst the young male tech geek demographic that’s so heavily overrepresented on Reddit?
This is a question that naturally sprung to my mind after reading a couple of recent posts in ShitRedditSays, documenting Reddit’s strange sympathy with the child porn enthusiasts of the world. A woman stands up on Reddit and declares herself a feminist? She’s a “bad person,” a “female supremacist,” an “utter piece of shit.” A man is jailed for possession of child porn? He’s being unjustly persecuted for a “victimless crime.”
Fxexular on ShitRedditSays has assembled a roundup of some the most disturbing comments in a thread devoted to the aforementioned man jailed for possession of CP. Amongst his finds:
Heavily upvoted comments comparing viewing of child porn to smoking weed and playing Grand Theft Auto.
A comment with 15 upvotes suggesting that the perp should only get “a stiff fine and a few weeks of community service … for a crime the judge himself probably committed half a dozen times on any given weekend.”
A comment with nearly two dozen upvotes lamenting that the child porn possessor is going to have his “life ruined over socially non-normative pictures. … this is a predictable outcome of a corrupt government which is obsessed with its own power.”
But these are just the tip of the pedo-defense iceberg. Take a look at the thread itself, where you will also find heavily upvoted comments from Redditors comparing the “persecution” of pedophiles to past persecution of gays and witches; an unintentionally ironic comment lamenting the cruel treatment of a perp who is “only 26” years old; and a comment making perhaps the strangest argument I think I may have ever seen anywhere about anything:
My core problem here, as a computer scientist, is that any photo he had is really a bunch of zeros and ones… which for anyone who is at all familiar with binary, is a number. Basically, by outlawing the storage of some form of data, we have said that it is illegal be in possession of certain numbers. Yes, these might be huge numbers that you don’t encounter in your daily life, but they are still simply numbers.
In a different thread on the same case, another Redditor gets 75 upvotes for comparing child-porn-possessing pedophiles with African-Americans in the era of the Civil Rights movement. Here’s the comment itself; here’s the ShitRedditSays thread discussing it. And here, for good measure, is the same commenter offering a Redditor who’s confessed to molesting his sister advice on how best to avoid prosecution.
Meanwhile, in an unrelated thread in Reddit’s Videos subreddit, pedophile (sorry, ephebophile) Redditors mount an all-out attack on a girl who had the temerity to complain about skeevy Redditors masturbating to pictures of herself she put in a private album on the internet when she was 14.
In ShitRedditSays, jamie11 collects together some of the creepiest comments, including these:
“Fuck yea she is developed AND judging by her smug smile, she is loving every second of this. Sure she says “OMG, so creepy herp derp” but in reality it is kind of a big EGO boost. EDIT: in b4 misogyny accusations!” [+7]
“She is an attention whore. She is really dumb. She will probably ultimately profit from this in the model/porn/coors girl industry.”[+10]
“Shes much hotter when shes quiet.” [+32]
The numbers in brackets indicate the numbers of upvotes.
Again, tip of the iceberg.
EDITED TO ADD: I hadn’t noticed before, but r/mensrights has its own discussion of the child porn case. It’s pretty much what you’d expect: Possessing child porn is just a “thought crime” that doesn’t hurt anyone.
The creepiest fellow of the lot is probably logrusmage, who offers this defense of the child porn possessors of the world:
consider that a majority of “kiddy porn” are pictures of sexually mature females taken by said females for boyfriends that got leaked on the internet or via text, where the female happens to be under the age of consent.
When someone points out that, um, the fact that these pictures are “leaked” means that the subjects of said pictures didn’t consent to them being put online (and, also, they are below the age of consent), logrusmage offers this rebuttal:
Consent is not needed for something that does not directly effect someone. Like looking at them. … Looking at a picture of someone does not require their consent.
Presumably he’d be fine if someone secretly filmed him picking his nose while taking a crap and put it up on r/creepydudespickingnosesonthecrapper.
Posted on November 10, 2011, in creepy, douchebaggery, hypocrisy, men who should not ever be with women ever, misogyny, oppressed men, pedophiles oh sorry ephebophiles. Bookmark the permalink. 314 Comments.
While being rape is definitely “an experience” I really don’t see how it’s a necessary one. In fact, I would go so far as to say I want to live in a world where it never happens to anyone ever.
So Whatever, you’re saying that if you rape someone it’s society’s fault for making it so easy to rape them. And you, of course, would bear no responsibility for a crime you committed.
Don’t hate the PLAYER , hate the GAME.
You’re not the PLAYER in the scenario you presented, you’re the fucking DM.
You mean the guy who is under trial for allegedly trying to fuck someone while they were sleeping, and not pulling out after they said stop, got hit from an ‘overbroad definition of rape’?
Get out. Unlike the two competitors ahead of you in our MBZ Worst Trolls list, I don’t think you’re sick in any way.
You know, I’m pretty sure this is in fact how it works in a lot of south america and asia, right?
Notice how the vile little MRA thinks that before was fine, back when women didn’t have a choice.
I don’t understand why “if you have sex with someone who doesn’t want sex, it’s rape” is such a difficult concept for some people to grasp…
All I can add to this conversation is ICK ICK ICK ICK. I just took a shower, people!
” I don’t understand why “if you have sex with someone who doesn’t want sex, it’s rape” is such a difficult concept for some people to grasp…”
So, I suppose prostitution is rape then, since obviously prostitutes, as a general rule, don’t want to have sex with their customers. In my opinion, as long as sex is freely agreed to, it shouldn’t be considered rape. And again, as I’ve said, how can it be coercion when the offeror is in no way either responsible for creating the situation in the first place and the offeree is free to take it or leave it? I’ll concede that from certain angles, it may be exploitation, but them’s the breaks that comes with the territory of living in a free enterprise system. You don’t like capitalism, go live in a commune.
Survival sex is basically the protoform of prostitution, which is the protoform of marriage, the old school, before the rise of the mostly-European pioneered “romantic ideal of true love”, which has only ever really worked for a minority of people at any given time. (why do you think it’s so celebrated in the first place? if it was commonplace, everybody would take it for granted and it would be ignored).
“back when women didn’t have a choice.”
In this case, women have always had a choice vis-a-vis sex in exchange for support. True, it may not be a choice they would prefer, the alternative being to fend for itself, but just because it’s a painful option doesn’t not make it an option.
fend for herself - correction
Some prostitution undoubtedly does involve rape, if the prostitute is being forced to sell sex against her will by her pimp. Which is why I’m strongly in favor of decriminalizing and licensing it, or any similar method of making it certain that the sex worker is doing it voluntarily.
The phrase “from certain angles” is redundant. And not once have you condemned the “offeror” as an amoral scumbag - or indeed responded to my point about how sex in such circumstances could possibly be a pleasant experience for either partner, unless you’re so utterly sex-starved that even a grotesque parody of the sexual act is in some way fulfilling.
Ah, you are blessed by fate as you apparently have never known what the depths one can descend when driven by deprivation. What an envious life you must have had led, with respect to being lucky with the ladies…
Oh, bullshit. A dry spell is not “deprivation”. Even if it’s a dry spell that lasts your entire life, not having sex is not going to turn anyone into a rapist. Again, why would you want to “have sex” with an unwilling partner, Whatever? What would be the point and how could you possibly get any kind of pleasure from doing that?
haha, depths of deprivation. Such romantic language for not getting laid. I’ve never had sex but skeezy sex with someone desperate for money does not appeal in the least.
Whatever, no matter how terrible life without sex supposedly is, there are these things called “your hand,” “Fleshlights,” and “Real Dolls.” All of them are options that you should really be trying BEFORE “coercing starving children into sex.” Unlike the latter, they also have advantages like “not being illegal” and “not being incredibly fucking disgusting and immoral to any vaguely decent human being,” not to mention the rather obvious “not involving doing something terrible to another person, let alone a child.”
(Incidentally, I’ve gone years not only without sex but without any form of orgasm. Somehow I did not die. Heck, I didn’t even rape anyone! Apparently that’s amazing or something. Ugh.)
And depravation. Because I know plenty of people who haven’t had sex for months if not years who wouldn’t stoop as low as you’re proposing.
If by “lucky” you mean that I’ve persuaded women to have sexual intercourse with me voluntarily on a reasonably regular basis, I’d say I was resoundingly average.
Boo fucking hoo. Buy a Fleshlight or something. People who are only looking for sexual release do pretty well without another human being. We’re not duped. People like you aren’t doing this out of blue balls, but because the very act of exercising power over another human being, of having your own personal fuckslave, is what you’re *actually* after.
The idea that people, especially men, need sex (understand with someone else, not masturbation) is what often makes debates about sex work very uncomfortable.
Person1: Sex workers are not criminals! Legalize sex work to protect them [etc...]
Person2: Yes! If prostitution is illegal, some men will be deprived of sex and will rape women!
Person1: Yeah! Wait, no, hem, well, legalize but…
““romantic ideal of true love”, which has only ever really worked for a minority of people at any given time. (why do you think it’s so celebrated in the first place? if it was commonplace, everybody would take it for granted and it would be ignored).”
Are you serious? Really? People in love are the minority? What planet do you live on?
I know dozens of people in happy and fulfilling relationships. I know you’ve never been in one which is why you feel the need to swing your bullshit on this forum.
None of this is about guys not being able to get laid, cos a lot of them have the ability to get laid and still be bitter about it. This about never being loved by a woman. They’re not sex starved, they’re affection starved.
…and it’s the women’s fault, of course.
But why they can’t see that this attitude unavoidably creates the most vicious of circles, virtually guaranteeing that they’ll be affection-starved for much longer (if not for ever), I really can’t fathom.
Whooops, I’ll have to refrain from further replies from this point on, as this discussion is now getting a little too close for my comfort zone. (Looks around). If I say too much more, I’ll get expelled from the clubhouse and be stripped of my membership. (Facepalms) I’m in despair! Oh, this wretched world that silently dooms man to a lifetime of quiet desperation, has left me in despair! The damned are trapped in distraction, bound for destruction! (Trumpet note).
@Whatever:
No. “Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei” quotes for you.
Incidentally, and just to make this clearer, did we start by talking about child porn, and you tried to make some sort of counter argument by saying that giving a starving child food in exchange for sex is fine? In other words, you tried to show cp is ok by asking us to consider exploiting a starving child?
Do you even know how to argue a point? You don’t do it by appealing to something even more despicable.
And of course that line should have been
“No. No “Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei” quotes for you.”
curse you, fast clicky finger.
Ah, you are blessed by fate as you apparently have never known what the depths one can descend when driven by deprivation. What an envious life you must have had led, with respect to being lucky with the ladies…
im confused, i thought you were all about personal responsibility. why are you suddenly blaming external factors for your actions. is it different when it affects you or something?
“In this case, women have always had a choice vis-a-vis sex in exchange for support. True, it may not be a choice they would prefer, the alternative being to fend for itself, but just because it’s a painful option doesn’t not make it an option.”
I wonder how Whatever feels about male prostitutes? Do they even exist in his world? Are they capable of having voluntary sex for pay, as opposed to always choosing between sex and starvation?
Whatever: It is incredibly misandric to think that men will rape starving children if they can’t get laid.
Also, sex workers are (generally) CHOOSING to do sex work. “Do this or you’ll starve tomorrow’ is not a choice.
As compared to “do this or you’ll have to get another job.”
Shorter Whatever: Why are you even debating that men shouldn’t be able to take advantage of other people for sex in the most humiliating way possible? THAT’S HOW CAPITALISM WORKS!
And here I thought “Do this for or you’ll starve to death. You have no other choice.” was how feudal serfdom worked. Live and learn, I guess.
“…for [me] or…”
If it isn’t coercion to trade food for sex with a starving person, what could possibly count as coercion?
A bank teller demanding sex before you can make a withdrawal?
Poll workers or politicians requiring sex in order to vote?
A judge trading sex with the defendant for an innocent verdict (or, alternately, trading it with the plaintiff for a guilty verdict)?
A mob boss suggesting that if you don’t have sex with him you may have a little accident?
I’m sure folks like Whatever would love to live in an world where nothing they do counts as coercion. So long as that rule only applies to them, of course.
I love how there are only 2 alternatives in Whatever’s mind - romantic, starry eyed true love, and raping homeless children. No gray area in between these two extremes at all.
I mean really, if he’s willing to exchange money for sex and he doesn’t care about the emotional connection aspect or the other person being into him, why not hire an actual sex worker? I guess it’s no fun for him unless he gets to have sex and make someone else miserable at the same time, and boring without that thrill of being able to hold power over a vulnerable younger person.
“No. No “Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei” quotes for you.”
I called it the very first time Whatever posted. Angry, amoral male anime geek meets MRA philosophy is a disgusting thing to behold. It’s the opposite of two great things that taste great together - two horrible things that when you combine them produce a vomit-worthy stew.
Starving children are much cheaper.
Katz that’s all just capitalism at work, why do you hate america???
Whatever: And again, as I’ve said, how can it be coercion when the offeror is in no way either responsible for creating the situation in the first place and the offeree is free to take it or leave it?
Um…. because when one person has limited options (no matter the cause) and a second person takes advantage of them to gain something they otherwise couldn’t, that’s coercion.
Lets take a different example.
Snowstorm. Someone who is stranded, miles from the nearest hope of shelter, on a lonely road. Car pulls over, and says that the stranded person can have a ride, if they are willing to sign over the title to the car which has stopped running.
That, or have sex.
No coercion there, right? I mean taking the choice to freeze to death or give up one’e valuable property, or let some stranger have sex with you… not the least bit of coercive behavior.
The guy demanding the title/some ass, didn’t cause the potentially fatal circumstance, he’s just taking advantage of it.
Just as the older person didn’t create the lack of understanding on the part of a person who lacks the experience (not just sexual) to understand the emotional/physical risks of sex with someone who has the experience to be emotionally abusive, the money to be situationally abusive, etc.
Nope, that person didn’t cause it, so it’s perfectly all right to do it. Just as it would be perfectly all right to get that person to sign contracts, become an employee, etc.
So you support exploitation, at any level.
And you said that raping children was just fine, normal in fact, and should be made legal.
Got it.
Is it bad that pedophiles post on reddit? Do you think that certain groups shouldnt be allowed to post, because of their sexual attraction?
I havent read the post you link to. But many pedophile people seem to post on reddit because its the only place on the net where they can talk about their feelings. There are literally hundreds of forums for gay, lesbian and transexual people, and thats really great.
But many pedophiles do not have ANYONE to talk with about their feelings without feeling ostracized/discriminated. I have seen topics great like this:
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/jkd6i/im_a_pedophile_ama/
I do not support certain opinions that are posted on reddit. I do not support people who say that child pornography OK.
BUT I DONT SUPPORT NEITHER PEOPLE WHO SAY THAT PEDOPHILES ARE CHILD MOLESTERS OR ‘EVIL’. There is a LOT anti-pedophile bias in the world, which you dont seem to mind.
Really, if we are going to be fair, be fair. People say a lot of offensive and ignorant things about pedophile people, which I dont see you complaining. And lastly, many people attracted to children have NO place where they can talk about their feelings. And you want to repress them, even more?